Jōdo Shinshū And Literature

10.1163/ej.9789004164710.i-263.16

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Chapter Summary

The aim of this chapter is to define where the Shin Buddhist tradition is positioned within the field of literature in modern and contemporary Japan. The literary works considered in the chapter are by Japanese authors, who mostly addressed a Japanese audience. Attention is drawn to elements of Jōdo Shinshū in Japanese literature through a choice of authors from the Meiji period (1868-1912) to the present. The number of books connected in various ways with Jōdo Shinshū, and Jōdoshū, currently available in Japan, is really impressive. Apart from the relevance attributed to both Shinran and Rennyo within a vast literary production, elements of Shin Buddhism have strongly contributed to the work of well-known contemporary Japanese authors such as Itsuki Hiroyuki and Niwa Fumio. Shin Buddhism even contributed to the work of Natsume Sōseki one of the most renowned writers of the Meiji period, and of Kaneko Misuzu.